Let's Play
by lilgenious
Summary: "Let's play a game of truth and dare." Morgana's voice held a threat that promised him great pain if he didn't comply.


_AN: This short little snippet is a story that I am oddly proud of. It was an entry for Camelot_Drabble on livejournal, and used the prompt 'Truth and Dare'. For some strange reason, I only had it published to AO3 and had forgotten about it despite the fact that I used to always go back and read it. As I don't have this piece published anywhere else but to the site I had it originally posted to, I felt that it was about time to have it come here where it truly does belong._

 _I have to admit that I was going to have this story deleted long ago due to the fact that I have a much longer story (that is novel length) that is centred on this very prompt. However, I decided in the end that I should have this published here and provide a link to the novel itself once it is officially published._

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Merlin had discovered that carrying a secret close to his heart was difficult. He had learned the hard way that to carry a secret meant that you lied much more about it, and that one lie led to another and soon you were overwhelmed with more secrets that directly linked to the original secret. Yet without fail, he remained silent and was on constant guard whenever he spoke.

There were a lot of times that he had wanted to scream out his secrets to anybody who would listen. Arthur, Morgana, Gwen, the knights... even Uther at one point- but he had been through a lot in the years he had known Arthur and had seen much more that it made him fall silent. To tell the world, no matter if he was heard or not was a thought that appealed to him on more than one occasion.

Sure he had Gaius, and it was not a secret that his uncle loved him like a son. However, he found that it was not the same as having somebody else to speak to. Not just anybody, but somebody who could understand him, who would not shrink away from him in fear or give him up to Uther... somebody like him.

He had thought that Morgana would have been that person, had come close to telling her once or twice. Even she had known that he carried something within his heart that could not be said, and no matter how many times she had tried to coax it out of him, he had remained silent.

"Let's play a game of truth and dare." Morgana's voice had been so beautiful to his ears back then when she didn't have darkness in her heart. He remembered the day she had said that to him. She had pulled him into the library, in the nook where she often hid when she wanted to be alone. Her fingers had brushed his arm as she pulled the curtain shut, and he remembered that his arm felt weird to him afterwards.

He supposed she had suspected what was truly going on, even back then before she had chosen her path. Though, he had to admit that he was a little frightened of her for her intellect and cunning nature. Perhaps she had seen him perform magic when he had been careless with it, or heard Gaius when he raised his voice at him for being reckless with his gift.

"Mordred told me a fascinating story a few days ago," Morgana said to him, coming so close that he could feel her breath upon his ear. "Do you want to hear this fascinating tale, Merlin?"

His heartbeat sped up at the mention of Mordred's name, and he knew that his secret was now out in the open. That his worst enemy now knew what he carried deep in his heart. Morgana was going to use this knowledge to her advantage, was going to turn his secret into a far more deadly weapon than when it was kept hidden. She was going to use it to destroy him, to destroy Arthur, and to destroy Albion.

"How should I know what Mordred says to you?"

She moved closer to him, yanking his head around so that he could see her face. He saw her eyes flash gold and the chains that were wrapped around him tightened until he cried out in pain. Morgana laughed coldly at his cry, her eyes far more icy than he had ever seen them before.

"It's a story that you know well, Merlin." She sounded strangely resentful now, and though the hatred that blackened her heart caused her eyes to glow with its wrathful fire, there was something of the old Morgana that showed through. "It is a story that is filled with secrets, betrayal and the death of a friendship. It features two main characters that are shrouded in darkness, but nonetheless, their paths are entwined together no matter how hard they try to escape it."

He felt his heart plummet to the bottom of his stomach, and felt cold with dread at Morgana's words. Morgana smirked as if she could feel what her words had done to him; she released him and walked forward until she was standing in front of him.

She turned, her eyes still lit with that fire of hate that consumed her soul. Merlin felt a sense of dread take over him as he realised his vulnerability, wrapped in these chains that would never set him free no matter how strong his magic, he was now at Morgana's mercy.

"Let's play a game of truth and dare," said Morgana, her voice held a deadly combination of excitement and promise of more pain to come. "This time, you can be assured that the truth will be out there for all to hear."


End file.
